


The Fine Art of Extortion

by grimcognito



Series: These Losers [3]
Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: Angry Boys Being Soft, Fake Dating, Gen, Habashira's Big Bro Looking Out For Him, Kinda, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 05:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13380996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimcognito/pseuds/grimcognito
Summary: Hiruma's plans go a bit awry when Rui's older brother turns out to be more cunning than he expected, and Rui sleeps through all the drama.





	The Fine Art of Extortion

It was right in the middle of the climactic monster battle that Hiruma heard the soft snore. His first reaction was to be insulted because, seriously? Hiruma brought his favorite take-out, the most quality piece-of-trash monster movie he could find, and his own lovely fucking self to keep Rui company and the chameleon had the nerve to fall asleep? 

Tilting his head back to see, Hiruma took in how the dark circles under Rui’s eyes looked heavier than usual. He’d noticed it when he’d first arrived, but it wasn’t unusual. Not since his father had booted him out the year before. Ironic how the Senator had finally reached the end of his patience as soon as Rui had started to try cleaning up his act. Hiruma had fully expected Rui to go crawling back to his father for help but Rui had surprised him by finding a job and splitting rent with his brother in this half decent apartment. It also meant the idiot always went and burned himself out with too much work. It was long past time for him to get a raise there, maybe Hiruma would stop by and have a little chat with Rui’s boss about taking advantage of employees desperate for whatever work they could get. 

Satisfied with his plan, Hiruma made a note in his little black book, chuckling under his breath at the information he already had to use against the auto-shop owner. That should be enough incentive to make sure Rui got a decent paycheck and stopped running himself ragged. Once his book was safely tucked away, he shifted against Rui to get comfortable again, which Rui slept through without even a hint of waking. 

The elder Habashira brother was rarely home most nights, usually choosing to study at the university library before a night shift at his work. Hiruma wouldn’t have cared much either way, but it was infinitely more convenient to break in and surprise Rui than to have to knock and suffer through any small talk when his brother answered the door.

Unsurprisingly, Rui had resigned himself to Hiruma’s whims after the first time he’d shown up with food and a movie, waltzing in and demanding that Rui shut his screeching mouth and sit the fuck down. Hiruma rarely bothered with a plan he didn't have complete confidence in. Not even ten minutes later, Rui had been pressed against one arm of the couch, manspreading his long legs and taking up more space than any nineteen year old should. Not that Hiruma could talk, half the time he sat down anywhere his knees were on level with his ribs, so he saved them both the effort of knocking knees and shoved up against Rui, ignoring the squawking, until he was mostly draped over the rest of the couch. With one shoulder and part of his back pressed against Rui’s arm and side, he could watch the movie comfortably, feet crossed over the opposite arm of the couch. Rui had settled down quicker than Hiruma had expected, even with his token protests, but Hiruma recalled Rui was weak for warmth at any given time and Hiruma tended to put off a lot of heat so maybe that was why. No matter the reason, it became a regular thing, and now, when Rui found Hiruma sprawled on his couch or rifling through his kitchen for utensils, he just grumbled and rolled with it. Smart man. 

Well, not smart enough to have figured out that he and Hiruma were dating, despite what Hiruma thought was a pretty obvious set of clues. One day he’d get it, then Hiruma would have a damn good laugh at how long it took him.

The movie lost its charm without anyone to make fun of it with, so Hiruma turned enough to look up at Rui without causing a crick in his neck. He wasn't looking particularly attractive, what with his mouth open and head tipped back at a weird angle. His tongue curled the tiniest bit with each breath, unfurling past his teeth with every exhale. It made Hiruma wonder how often Rui startled awake and nearly bit it off. It looked stupid and ridiculous and Hiruma was disgusted at himself for finding it adorable.

The long column of Rui’s neck was bared, all the way from the soft underside of his jaw to the dip of his collarbones. Hiruma grinned at the sight, at Rui’s lack of survival instincts when sitting right next to a sharp-toothed predator. It was either foolishness or trust. Rui had never fallen asleep near Hiruma before, no matter how tired he'd been. Maybe soon he'd finally be able to leave some nice red marks on that pale neck. It would be the perfect canvas for love bites. 

That time wasn't now, might not be for a while, but Hiruma had a lot of patience when it was needed, despite how annoying it was to wait for a goal that was in plain sight. He debated waking Rui with a quick, hard shake, then figured he might not get much sleep at all tonight if he went and got all keyed up from Hiruma startling him. Frightening his somewhat-boyfriend wasn't a great idea if he planned on getting to fall asleep with him again in the near future. 

Instead he carefully nudged Rui into a more comfortable position for them both and settled in for a long wait, cell phone in hand for entertainment as the tv screen lit up with low budget explosions. He barely noticed when his own eyes started drifting shut.

A soft scraping sound woke Hiruma and he opened his eyes slowly. Casually. As if he'd merely been pretending to sleep. It took everything he had to keep up the act when he found himself looking at Habashira Tokage staring directly at him. He was sitting on the low table between the couch and television as he ate his breakfast in the creepiest way possible, his chopsticks scraping the bottom of his bowl while he chewed.

Hiruma was nothing if not quick to recover in any situation, so he merely raised an eyebrow in response to the unsettling stare. In a small part of his brain, he absently wondered how the hell the guy could eat with that flower tucked into the corner of his mouth without swallowing the damn thing. “Your brother know you like to watch people sleep like some kind of pervert?”

Tokage ignored the jab, his mouth tilting up crookedly into a half smile that felt more like a threat. “Does he know how long you’ve been waitin’ to cuddle up to him in his sleep?”

Right to business was it? Alright then. Hiruma narrowed his eyes. “That’s a bold assumption.”

The loud bark of a laugh Tokage let out actually startled Hiruma enough to sit up and glance at Rui, who had slumped down further into the embrace of the couch. And yeah, Hiruma could see how his careful leaning had ended up as more of an intimate draping of himself over Rui’s form at some point in the night. There was also an incriminating wet spot spread over half of Rui’s shoulder where Hiruma must have drooled. 

Miraculously, Rui slept through his brother’s laughter. Maybe he’d died in the night. No, his chest was still rising and falling. He just slept like a fucking rock, apparently. 

Tokage huffed out one last chuckle and the little flower in his mouth curled back into a bud after blooming at the outburst. Of all the weird things Hiruma had seen people do, that was probably the fucking strangest of all just for how innocuous it was. “Here I thought you were supposed to be a good liar.” 

Sneering, Hiruma crossed his legs and slung one arm over the back of the couch, looking perfectly at home and refusing to back down. “I’ve heard a few things about you too, ones you might not want people to find out.” 

Tokage took another bite of his food and nodded thoughtfully, never breaking his stare. Did anyone in this family fucking blink? “Mmmh, you mean the stuff you got written in that little book of yours?” 

If Hiruma hadn’t felt the weight of it in his pocket he might have been tricked into checking for it. As it was, he just smirked. “Yep, all sorts of juicy info on you, Habashira. Cleaning up your act in university doesn’t change the shit you did in school.”

Tokage shrugged, looking unconcerned as he finished chewing another bite. “You ain’t got anything in there most people don’t already know.”

“You sure about that?” Hiruma asked. People always had secrets they were afraid of exposing. No one was an exception to that particular truth. 

Infuriatingly, Tokage just smiled a little and finished his meal, finally looking away as he stood and headed toward the little kitchenette. Hiruma sneered at his back. 

“That’s it? Not even going to threaten me to take good care of your little brother?” 

Broad shoulders lifted in a shrug while Tokage rummaged around in a plastic bag with a label from a nearby convenience store on it. “He can handle himself.”

Hiruma glanced down at the completely unthreatening sprawl of Rui’s limbs over half the couch, legs stretched out in front of it at awkward angles. The tilt of his head baring the soft expanse of his throat. “Agon didn’t seem to think so.” 

His eyes flicked back toward the kitchen where Tokage had gone tense and dangerously silent. The thrill of pushing people’s buttons rushed through Hiruma and he almost grinned, but he also remembered seeing Rui after Agon had finished with him, after that game. Nearly a week later and Rui, along with his gang were still sporting bandages and ugly black and green bruises. Hiruma hadn’t needed to ask how it happened and Rui hadn’t offered an answer anyway. News spreads fast when the local gang gets a public beating by one man.

“You plan on acting like that punk?” Togake asked, voice low and eerily calm. 

Hiruma’s eyebrows rose at the tone and the near palpable aura of danger. He wasn’t afraid, but he could see how a younger and less restrained version of this man could have ruled a school as rowdy as Zokuto Gakuen. Rui was tough, but he lacked the killer aura his brother had. If Hiruma cared more, he might have wondered what had caused the older Habashira’s change of heart. 

He looked at Rui again and imagined hurting him for real, leaving bruises from more than just a hard training session.Despite his reputation, he got no pleasure from random acts of actual violence, but even he was surprised at the sudden icy ball in the pit of his stomach at the thought. “Nah,” he said breezily, as if he hadn’t just nearly gone nauseas, “Beating people for shits and giggles isn't my thing.”

There was an unimpressed snort from the kitchen, but the tense feeling in the air was gone. Tokage turned, a couple of wrapped onigiri in his hand. “Just the extortion, huh?”

Hiruma did grin this time, shrugging a shoulder in a ‘what can you do?’ motion. “Fastest way to get shit done.” 

That got him another snort, and two projectiles flying at his head. Before he could dodge, a large hand shot out and caught them both. Rui finished sitting up, eyes half lidded and sleepy. He yawned wide, tongue stretching out before curling back in as he shook off the last traces of sleep and glanced at the food in his hand, then at Hiruma, then at Tokage, looking more confused as he went. “Wha--?”

“Eat and go get cleaned up, you’ve got errands to run today.” Tokage interrupted him, voice gruff but fond. “Your turn to pick up groceries.” 

Rui already had an onigiri half shoved in his mouth and made an unenthusiastic noise around it, but rolled to his feet anyway. He shot one last confused look at Hiruma, still muddled with sleep as he blinked one eye slower than the other before stumbling down the hall. _Idiot_ , Hiruma thought, vaguely horrified by how fond his internal voice sounded.

“You’ve got until he gets home to tell him how you feel.” Tokage said, distracting Hiruma from Rui’s soft _“the fuck?”_ at discovering the damp spot on his shirt before his bedroom door shut.

Hiruma shot him an amused look. “Or what?”

“Or I send him the video of you two sleeping together. You were _nuzzling_ him.”

That was the weakest story Hiruma had heard yet. He glared at Tokage through narrowed eyes. “Now that’s definitely a fucking lie.” 

Tokage leaned against the counter and pulled his phone from his pocket, then turned it to show Hiruma the video. Hiruma wanted to punch him for it, but even stronger was the urge to punch his past sleeping self for the sight of fucking snuggling into Rui’s side. The hell was that shit? He’d never felt so betrayed by his own body before. 

He was already calculating ways to get the video. No one was allowed to extort the extortionist. 

“You can tell him and get it over with,” Tokage continued, either unaware or uncaring of Hiruma’s scheming, “or you can play if off. I don’t care. But if you can’t man up after breakin’ in every damn weekend for fake dates, that’s on you. And don’t worry, I got it backed up on a bunch of different accounts already.” 

Hiruma had to admit he had some kernel of respect for Tokage, buried under the weight of his current dislike for him. It took a lot to catch Hiruma off guard, and it would seem the older Habashira was a hell of a lot sneakier than he’d first assumed. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

Rui stepped back into the hall before Hiruma could give a properly scathing reply, so he settled for his best casual face instead. Rui hesitated, sensing something between the two of them before shrugging on his coat. “You coming or you gonna stay here and stare at my bro like a fuckin’ weirdo?” 

Just for that, Hiruma beat him to the door, slipping into his shoes and knocking off the headband Rui was wearing in lieu of hair gel with a quick flick of his fingers. He walked out of the door with a cackle as Rui cursed him from behind, struggling to get his shoes on and fix his headband before catching up.

Minutes later, they walked in easy silence, though Rui looked at him questioningly when he didn’t turn toward the train station. “Stickin’ around?”

Hiruma just shrugged in reply and Rui didn’t bother to ask anything more. Hiruma watched him from the corner of his eye. Rui was too busy looking over the grocery list in his hand to notice, absently mouthing the words to himself. What a loser. 

Hiruma wanted to kiss him. 

He glared up at the sky and then mentally shrugged. Tokage’s shitty blackmail wasn’t what made the choice for him, but no one beat Hiruma to the punch. No one. Time to retake the initiative. 

He looked at Rui again, took in his unpolished lazy weekend look, no gel, no eyeliner, clothes rumpled instead of pressed. Waited until Rui noticed the attention, then reached out to take his hand. 

Back at the apartment, Tokage chuckled to himself as he deleted the video from his phone and decided to watch the incredibly crappy looking movie that had been left in the dvd player. He had some time to kill before his work shift, might as well enjoy it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how happy I am with this one, but it's done. Thank you to everyone kind enough to leave kudos and comments, they make my day! <3


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